tachment of, if not formed an engagement with, her kinsman, young Macdonald, the son of the generous Kingsburgh. Shortly after her return home, upon November 6th, 1750, she was married to him, and became the mother of five sons, more or less remarkable for the courage and intrepidity ennobling their ancestry on both sides. An anecdote of Macdonald himself, is worthy to be recorded, in proof of the fine sense of honour which inspired him, in as high a degree as the above-named qualities. "Macdonald was brought a prisoner, heavily ironed, from Skye to Fort Augustus. The excellent President Forbes represented to the duke of Cumberland, that to execute so popular a man as Kingsburgh, would excite renewed rebellion. But he was so deeply involved in the escape of Charles Edward, that his death seemed to be certain. At Fort Augustus, whilst he was a prisoner, an order came to the officer on guard, for the release of some prisoners. Amongst others, the officer called the name of ‘Alexander Macdonald,' asking Kingsburgh if that were not his. He answered, 'That is my name, but I suspect there must be some mistake.' The officer said, 'What mistake, is not your name Alexander Macdonald?' Kingsburgh said that it was, but repeated his warning twice or thrice. At last he went out, and met a friend, who advised him instantly to quit the fort, Kingsburgh said, 'No, I must wait at the opposite alehouse, till I see whether the officer gets into a scrape.' He waited. In two hours an officer came with a body of soldiers, and made the subaltern on guard, prisoner, for having set at large so dangerous a rebel. Kingsburgh immediately ran across the street, and saying to the officer, 'I told you there was a mistake,' surrendered himself. However, the President Forbes saved his life." When Dr. Johnson went with Boswell to the Hebrides, in the year 1773, he was warmly received by the husband of Flora, then himself possessor of the family mansion in which Charles Edward had been successfully hidden. "Kingsburgh," says Boswell, in his account of the great moralist's tour, “is completely the figure of a gallant Highlander, exhibiting the graceful mien and manly looks, which our popular Scotch song has justly attributed to that character. He had jet black hair, which was tied behind, and was a large, stately man, with a steady, sensible countenance." Flora herself he describes, as a woman of middle stature, soft features, gentle manners, and elegant presence. She was, at this time, fifty-three years old. Lady Kingsburgh spelled her name, not "Flora," but "Flory," Macdonald. The year following this visit of the doctor, the Kingsburghs emigrated to North Carolina, in the hope of effecting a comfortable settlement in America. Their journey was not a fortunate one. The husband of Flora who appears to have been as brave as ever, in the cause he embraced, joining the 84th Royal he re Highland Emigrant Regiment, was imprisoned by the provincial force; but he was soon set at liberty, and he then joined the North Carolina Highlanders, serving in Canada. Upon the conclusion of the war, turned to Scotland on half-pay, probably wearied of the incessant harass he had experienced in the New World, and yearning for a sight of the mountains of his native land. During their homeward voyage, the ship was attacked by a French privateer. It would scarcely be in character to suppose our heroine a silent or impassive spectator of the combat. While standing. on deck near her husband, and boldly animating the sailors by spirited words and gestures, which even in her old age, seemed to have lost nothing of their power, she was thrown down with such violence that the shock broke her arm. In allusion to this accident and the circumstances of it, she is said to have remarked, with, great coolness, that "she had now suffered a little, for both the houses of Stuart and Hanover!" After her return to Skye, Flora never again left it. She lived to be quite an old woman, and was followed to the grave by about three thousand persons, friends and retainers, amongst whom many had been recipients of her bounty, and most were capable of estimating the fine qualities of heart and mind, which rendered her loss a public one. Besides her sons, all of them officers in the army or navy, Flora Macdonald had two daughters, who were married to gentlemen holding the same profession as their brothers. One of the sons, anxious to perpetuate the remembrance of the spot where was interred so much heroism and devotion, sent a marble tablet, commemorative of his mother, to be placed upon her tomb in the churchyard of Kilmuir ; but, having been broken by accident, tourists took the opportunity to carry off pieces, and, at the present time, the grave of Flora Macdonald "remains undistinguished, within the rude inclosure that holds the dust of so many of the brave Kingsburgh family." |